BackAudi joins the space race
The German car maker will be part of Google's Lunar XPRIZE competition to land a vehicle on the moon
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German car maker Audi announced last week that it would be partnering with Part-Time Scientists, one of the 16 teams in the competition for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Audi will provide technical help to Part-Time Scientists in the race to land a privately funded rover on the moon that can travel 500m and transmit high-definition video and images to earth.
“With Audi we have acquired a strong partner that will bring us a big step forward with its technological and mobility capabilities," said Berlin-based Robert Böhme, founder of Part-Time Scientists, in a press release.
The team’s vehicle will be called the Audi Lunar Quattro. It will have an aluminium construction, a solar-charged lithium-ion battery, two front-facing stereoscopic cameras that will aid in navigation and an additional high-resolution camera that will analyse the environment and surface. It will have a top speed of around 3.6 kmph and will use Audi’s sophisticated Quattro all-wheel drive system. Audi will also share expertise in lightweight construction, electric vehicle mobility and piloted driving. “We are pleased to support the project with our know-how in lightweight technology, electronics and robotics," said Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi board member for technical development, in the press release.
The Audi Lunar Quattro is scheduled to be launched into space in 2017. It will have to travel more than 380,000km to the moon on a specially designed rocket. The trip will take about five days. At the moment, the target landing area is the same as the landing site of the Apollo 17, which landed in 1972, north of the moon’s equator.
The deadline for completing the challenge is 31 December 2017, and the total prize money is $30 million (around ₹ 192 crore).
Part-Time Scientists is already being supported by technology company NVIDIA and research institutions such as the Technical University of Berlin, the Austrian Space Forum and the German Aerospace Center. Audi is the only car manufacturer lending support to a Google Lunar XPRIZE team. The other teams are from countries such as Italy, Israel, Canada and Malaysia.
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